After a year of downturn, major ports in India are back on the recovery track. Traffic handled between April 2009 and February 2010 has increased by 5 per cent from a meagre two per cent growth in 2008-09.
The figure, however, is still short of the pre-slowdown performance — an 11 per cent growth in traffic handled by 12 major ports in 2007-08.
“The economy will take some time to recover. We have witnessed growth over last year, but will take more time to reach the 2007-08 level,” said A Janardhana Rao, managing director, Indian Ports Association. He added that the overall growth for 2009-10 should reach 6-7 per cent by the end of March.
With India’s Gross Domestic Product at 6.7 per cent in 2008-09 due to the economic crisis, as compared to 9.2 per cent the previous year, ports were impacted by dwindling exports which grew 3 per cent compared to 29 per cent in 2007-08 (based on March 2009 quick estimates).
Under commodities, the ‘other cargo’ category saw a growth of 22 per cent in 2009-10 due to sugar imports and a recovery in the textile sector. The iron ore category has grown 6 per cent this year. In 2007-08, it was 34 per cent, which fell to 2.5 per cent last year. “China imported iron ore heavily during the Olympics. That demand has completely dwindled now, hence, the fall,” said Rao. Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, which handles the largest container traffic, has shown a growth of 5 per cent. In 2007-08, it was 24 per cent.
When contacted, S S Hussain, chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), said: "The TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit), which can contain 12 tonnes has been calculated as 14 tonnes. This is higher, so the TEU number has gone down. But, we have done better than last year. The last three years have been difficult, but we have grown continuously." Kolkata Port Trust has seen the highest dip of 16 per cent over last year.
| ANCHORED | |||||||
| Commodity | ‘06-’07 | ‘07-’08 | Growth over previous year (in %) | ‘08-’09 | Growth over Previous year (in %) | ‘09-’10** | Growth previous year* (in %) |
| P.O.L. | 154.00 | 168.00 | 9.46 | 175 | 4.1 | 159 | -0.25 |
| Iron Ore | 80.00 | 91.00 | 14.13 | 94 | 3.2 | 90 | 5.8 |
| Fertilizers | 14.00 | 16.00 | 14.00 | 18 | 12.5 | 15 | -3 |
| Coal | 59.00 | 64.00 | 8.40 | 70 | 9.3 | 64 | 5.2 |
| Containerized | 78.00 | 98.00 | 25.60 | 99 | 1 | 97 | 9.7 |
| Other Cargo | 81.00 | 84.00 | 3.70 | 78 | -7.4 | 85 | 21.57 |
| Total*** | 466.00 | 521.00 | 12.00 | 534 | 2.4 | 510 | 5.54 |
| *** Approximated ** Figures till February 2010 * For the corresponding period Source: Indian Ports Association. | |||||||
“We lost about 10 million tonnes of crude oil due to the Paradip-Haldia pipeline, from where the entire crude comes now. It is a substantial loss of revenue, because handling of liquid cargo gives the highest margin as less cost is involved,” A Majumdar, chairman, Kolkata Port Trust, told Business Standard. For all the major ports, in the POL (petroleum, oil, lubricant) category, there has been a fall of 0.25 per cent.
Meanwhile, the annual aggregate cargo handling capacity of major ports increased to 574.77 million tonnes per annum in 2008-09 from 532.07 million tonnes in 2007-08. The average turnaround time was 3.87 days in 2008-09 compared to 10 hours in Hong Kong. "Ports in India are very expensive compared to the ones in Singapore and Colombo. Main liners first go to Colombo and do trans-shipment to India," said Rahul Asthana, chairman, Mumbai Port Trust.
